A pair of Texans at prestigious East Coast universities have been named 2009 Rhodes Scholars.

Malorie Snider of Friendswood and Stephen Hammer of the Dallas suburb of Carrollton were among 32 men and women nationally named Sunday as Rhodes recipients.

A day after she was named a Rhodes Scholar, Snider had an early Thanksgiving dinner with her extended family on Sunday in Friendswood. She is a senior majoring in biological anthropology at Harvard.

She has to return to Harvard on Monday morning, and this year, she has a lot to celebrate.

"It's kind of a blur, actually," said Snider, 21, who grew up in Friendswood. "It's a combination of excitement, feeling overwhelmed, not comprehending what's going on, and thinking about all these possibilities that have suddenly opened up to me."

Snider plans to study medical anthropology at Oxford, delving into an interest that has been growing during her undergrad studies.

"I'm interested in the way scientific fact and cultural and social beliefs and constructs interact," said Snider. "I'd like to have a more thorough understanding of the way cultural practices affect the way people perceive medicine and the ways their bodies react."

Snider said her family was ecstatic, especially her father who did not go to college himself and "worked so hard to provide for my education."

Hammer is a senior classics major at Princeton University. He serves in the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He is a campus leader in the Presbyterian ministry and plans to pursue a master's in theology.